Paranoia
by Elixier Navasuki
Summary: '...he just shook his head a bit and propped himself up on his elbows, glancing over to the window. "What's so interesting out there?" She asked. "The world" He replied softly, "And everything that it holds…" He glanced to Mabel smiling slightly...' Read the rest to find out where that comes in to play - Not please that I don't own Gravity Falls by the way!


Gravity Falls

"Dipper…!" Her voice screamed out across the fogged over, cold and crisp, winter air. "Dipper…!" She screamed again, walking through the woods with her coat on, they were supposed to stay at the Mystery Shack into the winter, but certain circumstances-and not very good ones at that had left them there, for what Mabel had quickly assumed to be to rot away. "Dipper..." She muttered one last time, her voice sounding harsh, she had lost her twin somewhere in the fresh snow of winter-and he seemed to pay no heed to her calls, he seemed to be oblivious, having run off into the woods the way he did, like he was chasing after something. Their Great Uncle Stan (affectionately called Gruncle Stan) had assumed the recent feeling that fell upon Dipper of being watched was merely a form of paranoia, but maybe we're getting to far ahead here. Maybe we should go back to what lead Dipper to run off in the first place, shouldn't we?

The first day that they noted that they were stuck there was probably the last day of September, they had already missed a month of school, and what came with was the inevitable missing homework that they would have to make up if they weren't exempt from it due to the strange absence of the twins, their mother and father had died, though, Gruncle Stan chose to keep the kids ignorant, chose to let them play and joke around the way that they did, Mabel guessed he merely ignored the odd shift in Dipper's personality over the month. He went from being the once overly adventurous person he was to an introvert-he feared social activity and had given up trying to be with Wendy. Often times he remained locked away in the room they shared in the attic, watching out at the woods through the circular window. Mabel had noticed it, how if it was just him and her he would often turn around out of nowhere without a reason, how if he was alone with her he would shake subtly, but even to himself he shrugged the feeling off, thinking it was only being anxious about not being back at home.

Things had managed to progress though, Dipper would wake up in the middle of the night, crying silent tears that he again merely shrugged off, drying his face and figuring he had a sort of nightmare that he could thankfully not remember. Soon it grew into insomnia, and then it went on to him having two attempted accounts of running away, to somewhere he didn't even know. It was odd, what this place did to him when he was stuck there for a month longer than he should have been, he used to love the mysteries and the adventures that came with the mysteries! She sighed a bit, listening to the silence and wishing that the clicking noise of Dipper's pen was there. At one point in time the clicking was annoying and incessant to her, but now it was a comforting noise in the silence that hung in the air. It reminded her that some things about her brother remained the same, even if everything else had changed.

She remembered the first time that he had run off on them, they were all outside, it was the second week of September and they were joking around as they roasted marshmallows around dusk. Gruncle Stan and Mabel too caught up in a conversation to notice that Dipper seemed to be watching the woods a bit overly intently. Without so much as a word to the two he had gotten up and walked away, Mabel wished now more than ever that she had noticed that then, because the next hour was spent in panic during the night, looking for her brother who had stopped at what seemed to be a clearing, staring at the tree tops-He was in a trance almost, or his mind was stuck in a dream, watching past skies. Mabel was the one to find him, on her own with a large flashlight as her only light during the scary night where animals could be lurking around every corner. He turned to face her, smiling and waving when the light was flashed upon him, and then, as always, shrugging it off.

She never shrugged it off though. The abnormalities that were thrust upon her brother worried her greatly. The second time he had run off on them was brief, the night that Mabel and Gruncle Stan had gotten into a fight about what was going on, sometime in November, just after Thanksgiving. Dipper had snuck out of the house that morning right after he woke up, and again Mabel had later found him in that same clearing, though this time he seemed to just be reading, glancing up every now and then like he expected someone to be there. Neither knew who, and when he was asked about it, there was reluctance in his tone about even acknowledging the question (which he often dismissed with his answer anyways).

Now it was this time again, he had run off again, and Mabel planned to go to the clearing to find her brother and bring him back to the Mystery Shack as always. Maybe when they were back with their parents Dipper would be okay again, he would have that adventurous spark in him again, and he wouldn't be so afraid anymore. That was what could be hoped for by Mabel at least. She was shaking by now from the cold, staring in front of her and seeing a shape waving at her in the fog. She bolted forward, hugging her brother tightly when she had finally caught up with him. "You can't keep running off!" She scolded with the little bit of voice that she had. "What's gotten into you, Dipper?" She asked a much calmer tone in her voice now.

Dipper merely shrugged a bit, dismissing it the way he always did as he had started to walk past her, not even bothering to look back at her. She turned on her heel, shaking snow out of her hair and walking to catch up with him, rubbing her arms through her coat that Gruncle Stan had been kind enough to buy her. Mabel sighed a bit, staring at the other as they walked along in silence until they were back at the Mystery Shack and inside. "Dipper, is…is something wrong?" She asked cautiously, he was often silent when they walked back from the woods, but this time…this time seemed more...eerie. Mabel waiting for the answer that never came, instead Dipper just raised a hand and tilted it ever so slightly, walking over to the stairs and running up them. In the brief time that she could see his face when he was dashing up the stairs-that brief moment that she usually never thought about-he looked tired, drained and terrified.

It was almost scary to see him that way, to see him so…scared. She hummed for a brief moment, her eyes trailing the path that she was walking along as she had went to go and find her brother, she had a feeling he'd be in the attic bedroom they shared, and so she went there, seeing Dipper face first in a pillow. She took a deep breath and sat on the edge of his bed, "Dipper?" She asked, and she received no response. "Dipper…?" She asked again, slower this time, again there was no response as she went to stand up, beginning to walk away as she felt a hand grab her wrist feebly, and eyes watching her, almost inspecting the back of her head before she turned to face the hazel color. Things remained silent, though, she had found her position next to the bed. She was leaning against the bed frame, watching the floor and humming a soft tune that could be easily missed.

"What song is that?" She heard the question almost like glass that had shattered against the floor. It was Dipper speaking, finally, but even his voice was shaking. "I heard it somewhere…" He commented quietly, watching her from his position face down on the bed. His voice sounded like a thousand porcelain pieces being crushed, and it scared her.

"I heard it while I was here…" She replied, "I forget who I heard it from though…" She replied, smiling a bit and looking back to him, though he only furrowed his brows, "Was…that not the correct answer?" She asked; he just shook his head a bit and propped himself up on his elbows, glancing over to the window. "What's so interesting out there?" She asked.

"The world" He replied softly, "And everything that it holds…" He glanced to Mabel smiling slightly as he collapsed softly onto the bed, "I'm going to take a nap, okay?"

"Alright…" Mabel replied, glancing around and then heading out of the room and to the first floor silently.

The month was April, and the rain was pelting the ground harshly, Mabel and Dipper having been outside playing in the rain that berated them. The ground was muddy and Dipper was staring into the woods as Mabel played happily. Dipper watched Mabel curiously for a few moments before he hummed slightly, sneaking off into the confines of the woods quietly, and his hand against his side. This was the fourth time he had left, and this was the last time he'd be gone away from the Mystery Shack.

She had followed him off into the woods, with him having lost his adventurous side, she took it upon herself to upkeep it, it felt right to her, to take such a thing on that was. He had ended up getting out of her sight, which was okay with her, since he was heading off to the opening, the clearing. She hummed a bit, rounding the last small bend and staring at the clearing. This was his fourth attempt to run away, and, sadly, his last. She went to enter the clearing, and retrieve her brother, though, it hadn't seemed as though that was going to be the plan. Dark clouds overhead were still berating her and Dipper with rain that hadn't let up since earlier that morning. Dipper, like the first time he had run away was staring up at the sky, "I find it funny, May." He hummed, glancing over to where she was and smiling, Mabel leaving her position hidden behind a tree. He must have seen her questioning look, since he continued-"That the sky chose today to 'cry'." This certainly wasn't the brother that she knew; he would never refer to rain as tears! Annoyances maybe, but never something sad; she went to speak, but he interjected, moving his hand that she hadn't even realized was against his side the entire time, "Especially on a day like this." He held his hand towards her, somewhat limply. The palm faced her in a relaxed manner, the rain washing away the crimson liquid that had caused her to freeze in her place. He hummed slightly, sitting on the ground with his legs outstretched and then laying back calmly, staring up at the sky, glancing towards her and motioning for her to come over (to which she obliged and sat next to him in the April rain). He looked back to the sky, "It's funny, huh? That the rain seems to time things perfectly? Deaths? Misfortunes? Things of that sort..." After that, things merely fell silent, neither wished to speak, and neither wished to move, it wasn't very long before Mabel stood, looking to her brother who remained smiling at the sky that he once adventured under. She had no words, merely turning away and heading back to the mystery shack. She figured she'd just tell Gruncle Stan that this time she hadn't caught up with him in time-and she hadn't as far as she was concerned. That night she was awake from some unknown source, a watched feeling. She glanced behind her, finding the window and laughing lightly, this was exactly how Dipper had started off. She stood up, walking over to the clear panes and staring into the woods, she could see the clearing from there, and she never even bothered to take notice of that. Though, in the clearing, she could have sworn she saw Dipper, standing there, facing where she had left, smiling and waving as if she was to meet up with him and bring him home that day.

Mabel hadn't even cared to wait before she had slipped her feet into her flats and ran off outside, maybe he was okay and he was just waiting for her? Surely that was the case! "Dipper…!" She screamed, similar to the day back in January when Dipper had run off for the third time. She wondered if this was what he felt like. If it was something like this that he was chasing after, something that could either be real, or be a dream out in the deceiving clearing of the woods? She stopped at the path of the woods, by the tree se had hidden behind as she stared into the clearing, walking over to what she thought was her brother, pointing up to the raining sky. He gaze followed his finger to the sky. "What's so interesting up there…?" She heard herself mutter before she looked back to her brother who remained on the ground, the person pointing up to the clouded skies merely a hallucination to the depressed mind as she turned away from where he lay, her voice quiet and feeble as she began her trek back, "The world, and everything is holds…"


End file.
